Photo by Shira Oneal-Abend

LA VERNE, CA — The University of La Verne men's water polo team had a busy weekend, playing five games in the annual Inland Empire Classic. The Leopards finished the weekend 1-4 with two, close one-point losses.

Game Scores

Ottawa (AZ) 20, La Verne 19 | UC Irvine 25, La Verne 7 | La Verne 23, Riverside City College 21 | UC Santa Barbara 28, La Verne 6 | Fresno Pacific 17, La Verne 16

Freshman Peter Trinh had an outstanding individual weekend leading the Leopards with 20 goals in the five-game stretch to go with 14 drawn exclusions and six assists. He made his biggest impact in the win over the RCC Tigers when he scored seven times, dished out an assist, and drew a pair of exclusions.

Senior eteran Guillermo Ocasio found the back of the net 15 times and distributed the ball well, leading his squad with 11 assists to go with four steals. Not to be outdone, Alam Barnuevo showed he can both score and set up his teammates as well. The junior ended the week with 14 goals, nine assists, and five steals.

Cody Lehotsky ended the week with eight goals and seven steals. Jason Soo Hoo scored six times and Michael Staine added six goals.

Ryan Lehotsky finished with 24 saves and Jonah Alvarado grabbed 16 saves.

La Verne opened the tournament with a heartbreaking loss. Trailing Ottawa 19-18 with under a minute to play, Trinh beat the keeper to even the game and seemed to send the game to overtime. But on the final possession of the game, Arnaud Parmentier sent a shot to the back of the cage as the final horn blew to give the Spirit the win. Barnuevo scored seven goals in the effort.

Against Riverside, the Leopards rebounded from a slow first quarter where they trailed 7-4 and took a 12-10 lead into the break. The Tigers got to within one when Sebastian De La Pena-Kenley scored to make the game 19-18 with 5:36 left in the game. But Cody Lehotsky and Brandon Pham scored back-to-back goals to put La Verne up by three and the Leopards were able to hold onto the win.

The Leopards nearly completed a second-half comeback in the final game of the tournament against Fresno Pacific. Heading into the half down 10-6, La Verne came out roaring in the third quarter outscoring the Firebirds 7-4 in the period to make it a 14-13 game.

Ocasio took over the game in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter scoring three straight times in just over a minute span to put La Verne up 16-14. But Fresno Pacific finished strong, scoring the last three goals of the game to come away with a 17-16 win.

Season Impact

La Verne moves to 1-6 on the season finishing a stretch that included perennial NCAA Division I powers USC, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Irvine.

Next Game

The Leopards open up SCIAC play next Saturday, September 18 when they host Occidental College at 11 a.m. They'll finish the day with a 4 p.m. game against Westcliff.